Following President Obama’s re-election to a second term, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) has formed a task force to challenge in court federal regulations issued by the government over the next four years that may affect oil and natural gas.

The IPAA plans to “ramp up its litigation efforts on the environmental front with regard to endangered species,” and it will seek to take an “across-the-board” approach as well, said Julia Bell, IPAA manager of public and industry affairs.

The “Endangered Species Act [ESA] is sure to be a growing problem in the years ahead. Again, it doesn’t affect oil and gas exclusively — a huge swath of industries will be impacted — including city expansion efforts,” she said.

IPAA’s legal firms intend to bring litigation to the government to ensure that energy development is not shut down at the drop of a bureaucratic decision, said the trade group, which represents independent oil and gas producers. The task force is “going to be big,” including at least 10 different industries, among them construction, manufacturing and trucking, in addition to oil and gas, Bell said. Asked when she thought the IPAA would file its first lawsuit, she said, “I’m not sure of that yet.”

In a recent letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the IPAA requested a public forum with FWS on its plans regarding the ESA because members are concerned that new listings could harm domestic oil and natural gas exploration and production (see Daily GPI, Nov. 6).

IPAA CEO Barry Russell said members understand that the agency is obligated to meet certain deadlines under a court-approved settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity and Wild Earth Guardians. However, there has been “little transparency afforded to the public on which species are coming up for review,” Russell said. “The pure depth and breadth of these settlement agreements could harm our membership and create uncertainty in the development of domestic oil and natural gas.”

By 2016 FWS is required to complete a review of 250 candidate species for final listing on the ESA and is required to complete other actions on listings and critical habitat petitions of more than 1,000 species.

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